Latest research developments on the lung cancer targeted drug cabozantinib

Clinical studies of the multi-targeted tyrosine kinase inhibitor (TKI) cabozantinib Data presentations will include findings in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC), as well as the established indications for advanced renal cancer and radioactive iodine-refractory differentiated thyroid cancer (RAI-R DTC). These data demonstrate that cabozantinib's therapeutic potential as a key treatment option for a broad range of tumors is continuing to be realized.

Latest results from the Multicenter Phase Ib COSMIC-021 trial, evaluating the combination of cabozantinib and atezolizumab in an expanded patient population with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer, demonstrated encouraging clinical activity and manageable toxicity in patients previously treated with an immune checkpoint inhibitor (ICI). These data lay the foundation for the potential of cabozantinib in metastatic NSCLC, which is currently being further investigated in the ongoing Phase III CONTACT-01 trial. The trial is evaluating cabozantinib in combination with atezolizumab and docetaxel in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer who have previously received ICIs and platinum-containing chemotherapy.

Currently, first-line immunotherapy with or without chemotherapy is the standard treatment for patients with metastatic NSCLC, but there is a real need for additional effective treatment options for those who have progressed after prior immunotherapy. These new data are encouraging as they demonstrate the potential role of cabozantinib in creating an environment that may enhance the activity of atezolizumab in NSCLC. Further data are anticipated to evaluate the impact of this combination in a patient population that still has such high unmet medical need.

The potential of cabozantinib as a treatment option for a variety of tumors, including non-small cell lung cancer, continues to be evaluated, and these data demonstrate our ambition to bring meaningful new therapies to patients. These latest data support the potential role of cabozantinib to positively impact treatment when combined with immunotherapy, and we continue to evaluate cabozantinib both as monotherapy and in combination with other innovative therapies in the most difficult-to-treat cancers.

An exploratory analysis will also be conducted to investigate the relationship between depth of response (DepOR) and clinical outcomes in CheckMate-9ER to evaluate the efficacy of cabozantinib in combination with nivolumab and sunitinib in previously untreated advanced renal cell carcinoma. DepOR is defined as the optimal percentage reduction from baseline in the sum of target lesion diameters. Overall, a greater proportion of patients treated with cabozantinibnivolumab demonstrated a deeper response compared with sunitinib. Regardless of treatment, deeper responses are generally associated with improvements in progression-free survival (PFS) and overall survival.

In addition, two new data analyzes from the pivotal Phase III trial COSMIC-311, which evaluated cabozantinib in the RAI-R DTC, will be presented. An analysis involving results from prespecified subgroups based on baseline histologic subtype of papillary and follicular thyroid cancer showed that cabozantinib maintained superior efficacy to placebo regardless of histologic subtype. In the papillary thyroid cancer (PTC) subgroup, the median PFS was 9.2 months with cabozantinib, 1.9 months with placebo (HR 0.27 95% CI, 0.17-0.43), and 2.5 months with FTC (HR 0.18 95% CI, 0.10-0.31). The overall response rate (ORR) for cabozantinib was 15% compared with 0% for placebo in the PTC subgroup and 8% compared with 0% for placebo in the FTC subgroup.

References:https://www.ipsen.com/press-releases/asco-2022-new-cabometyx-data-show-encouraging-results-in-monotherapy-and-in-combination-across-different-tumor-types-including-metastatic-non-small-cell-lung-cancer/